10 Productivity hacks you need to know

I have been really busy this year. In the beginning of 2018, I decided to get the PMP Certification while having a full-time job. It was really intense and I was basically living for the PMP and my job during those 3 months. This was a moment that I needed to focus and remove all my distractions, and I learned a lot during that time.

In the beginning, I confess, I underestimated the amount of time I should spend on my studying and reading for the PMP. After several days I realized that I needed more structure so I came up with a schedule where I studied 4–5 hours per weekday and almost the entire weekend. After that, I realized that I could find room to be productive and optimize my time quite often. I know,when you have kids the time management can be really tricky though.

Here is what I learned:

1 — Remove your phone notifications

I know, everybody is saying that, and guess what? It’s true! Normally, I don’t have most of my phone notifications on, but I decided to remove them all for a while. In the beginning, I had a little bit of FOMO, but when I realized that nothing major changed and projects continued to run, I realized that the notifications were just distractions that didn’t make me 100% focused on one task at a time. You should try it!

2 — Calendar blocking

I started to read about the power of calendar blocking and I implemented it. The concept is really simple, when you’re planning your day or even your week, you block out some chunks of time to get stuff done. You’ll do a rough estimate of the amount of time you think you’ll need to complete each task. If you realize you’ll need more time, you can always reserve more time later in the day/week. The most important thing is that you’re not supposed to multitask during this time. You’ll need to be 100% focused as much as possible, on that task. Remember, if you blocked the time, make it work as much as possible. So no procrastinating and multitasking for you!

3 — Exercise

I recently discovered the power of calendar blocking to make sure I was exercising properly. I use this technique to add some exercise time in my calendar. What works for me is 2x pilates + 1x of any other exercise like yoga, climbing or hiking. Try it, I love to have it scheduled.

A friend of mine showed me the ClassPass app. I really liked the app, the way I scheduled my class and the amount of studio options they had. If you want to try this code, it gives you $40 off:

4 — Meditate

I started to meditate everyday some years ago, after awhile I was like this is not making me feel good. I was basically the same. So I skipped my morning meditation for some days and BOOM, I was so anxious and it was really hard to concentrate. Contrary to what I thought, the meditation was working! So I highly recommend including 10–15 min of meditation into your daily routine. Here are my two favorite apps:

5 — Time management

Studies show that multitasking is actually bad and it’s also bad for your brain. But, mastering time management can help PMs be more productive. For those who like the Pomodoro technique, the whole idea of the cube timer is also help you focus 100% on one task during a certain period of time. The cube timer is so far one of the best gadgets I bought this year! It has no buttons or dials to set, you just turn it to the interval side needed, and it’s ready to use. Enjoy!

6 — Morning Pages

I always like to journaling. I have a journal I write in everyday and I’ve used it for 3 years already, I love to read what happened on today’s date 2–3 years ago. But what are morning pages? Morning pages are handwritten stream of consciousness papers you write. Ideally you’re going to write them first thing in the morning. Don’t pick your phone up first. Write your morning pagers in your journal, then check your phone for email and social channel updates after that.

It’s amazing how everything becomes clear when I’m doing my morning pages. I have a lot of insights and ideas that come from doing it. If you don’t know what to write, you can say “someone in a blog asked me to do this; I don’t know what I’m doing but I decided to give it a try”. They say to write 3 pages but I don’t put the pressure of writing 3 pages on myself. I give myself 10 minutes using my time cube to write the papers, I usually write one full page. Try it. It’s really magical. Test it out for a week and write me your thoughts afterward!

7 — Pick your diet

One thing I learned is that we need to have consistency in our diet, so choose wisely to eat healthy and in the right time frame. I did a detox and after that I decided to go raw vegan, for while my energy was very low and I was sleeping really poorly. I was amazed with the results after staying raw vegan for a week as I was feeling so good and my energy had never been higher. Pick your diet and follow your schedule. Sometimes when I don’t have time to eat properly, I buy some juices or even ask for an Uber Eats during meetings, just to make sure I’ll be able to eat properly.

8 — Choose your Playlist

I love to listen to music, I always have my headphones, but the only problem is that the music sometimes can distract me. Recently as I was playing with my Spotify, I discovered some mood playlists. It was love at first sight. I loved the Brain Food and Genre Glitch playlist and some folks at Twitter recommended to me some other good ones: Chillstep, Diplo and friends, Chill vibes, and Creamy tracks. Tune in!

9 — Social Media detox

I personally spend more time than I need to in my social channels, especially on my Instagram because I love it. It was consuming a lot of my time though so I decided to give up of some social channels like Facebook, for example. I also had a social media rehab for a few weeks and in the beginning it was hard, but after some days off, I was totally fine and I really didn’t miss it. After I got my PMP certification I decided to set boundaries with social networks and now I have some periods of time that I’m allowed to check social channels out. I kinda like the idea of using it as a gratification for yourself or a timeout for your brain!

10 — Slow mornings

I read about it some months ago, and I felt really inspired. Why don’t we do that? It seems so obvious. Again, the obvious thing sometimes is underestimated because it’s “too common sense”. When you usually wake up you’re in a rested state and full of energy. This is the perfect timing to dedicate to something meaningful and prepare your body for the day, right!? Instead of what we usually do? Grab our phone, check emails and social media channels. Of course, it’s not a surprise we feel overwhelmed and anxious. How about if we wake up a little bit earlier, meditate, write a journal and have a peaceful breakfast? This will give you a chance to be more present and prepare your mind for the day. Try it and let me know!